PHI Flyers10

Remember now... Malkin and Crosby both had 3 goals 5 assists... Giroux had ONE goal 7 assists. It's not like Giroux outplayed them, Couturier or otherwise, he just held his composure (generally) better.

What are you talking about? The playoff series? 'Cause Giroux had 14 points in that.

I've been pretty decent on face-offs lately. I flick the stick back as quickly as I can. I think it helps. I'm simming my first GM season for the Flyers and I'm in the Conference Finals against the Penguins. A little nervous about this match-up. I started off HORRIBLE in the season but left everyone together and just barely made 8th place. Beat NJ and NYI in Game 7s so far.

Here are my lines that I've run for the season and playoffs:

Voracek - Giroux - Couturier

Simmonds - Schenn - Read

Wellwood - Briere - Hartnell

Fedotenko - Talbot - Rinadlo

Schenn has been amazing in the playoffs thus far. Rinaldo had two big goals and scored the Game 7 OT winner against the Islanders. Wellwood also had two big goals in the first round. Getting scoring from everyone, and Bryz has been a wall for the most part. Still nervous about the next match-up. If I do win, I'll face either the Blues or the Ducks in the Finals.

@PHI Flyers10 I'm sure not only Flyer fans voted for G also....he's a hot commodity in the league right now. The guy most likely to break the 100 point barrier that has not done it yet, on the very cusp of super stardom. Fans of the sport in general like that kinda thing. Plus, the kids (12-20 year old crowd, the same kinda demographic that would buy a video game BTW) like his sick moves, he does stuff with the puck (at full speed and standing still) you just don't see everyday. McKeen's chose G for the cover of their new Hockey Pool mag, and that is the second cover I've seen him on.....they chose G because they know his presence on the front will sell copies of their preview mags.

I agree. If it was just 50 players and whoever got the most votes out of one session wins, then polaris' argument would be stronger, but since it was like a playoff tree, Giroux would get more votes from other fans as their players got eliminated.

I don't think that series had much to do with Giroux being there at all. Only die hard NHL/video hockey fans really bother to vote. And powers that be even acknowledge multiple voting weighs in heavily. They limit you to 10 votes a day. Multiply that times the disparity in market size and your economics professor will be proud! Lol

And no die-hard NHL/video game hockey fans were influenced by that series? It may not have been the absolute main reason Giroux won but when it comes down to only 4 players left in the voting, the fans of other teams are still going to vote for who they prefer. I'm sure it wasn't only Flyers fans voting for Giroux. There are plenty of factors but I doubt that the market share one is the absolute most important one.

Flyers market size is the 4th largest DMA in the country...

Penguins market size is 23rd DMA in the country...

Oh no, you couldn't possibly have more fans to vote for Giroux. Do you really think everyone thinks Giroux is a better player? How much hardware did he take home this season??

I'll buy the Malkin is ugly theory, but to say market size doesn't matter? Ridiculous.

I think a lot of people jumped on the Flyers' side during the playoffs series between us. Mainly after Game 3. They also got to see their first glimpses of Giroux as a star in that series. Reading the HF Boards, a lot of people started hating on the Penguins in that series and then after it was over went back to hating the Flyers.

I can take the market size argument but I think that playoff series really helped propel Giroux into the top. I'm surprised I haven't seen Crosby on the cover yet, though I'll probably have to get a custom cover that year if he or any Penguin (chances are it would be Malkin or Letang, both of whom I hate) ends up being on it.

4 star guys should get to 85-87 if utilized correctly. I'll probably play Voracek with Couturier and Giroux on the first line, and Schenn with Simmonds and Read on the second line to let them develop. I know Danny will drop off in rating on the third line but I gotta think about the future. I'll probably put Laughton on the first line in the AHL for the first year or something. Maybe even trade Briere (though I love him) for a first or a prospect.

Oh yea, before the 2014 season (Think it was 2014, Bobby Ryan was in the last year of his contract) I traded Simmonds, and 2 1st round picks for Bobby Ryan. My team missed the playoffs that year, Bryz had a gaa of 2.15

Damn, that's a lot to give up for Ryan. I like seeing how the draft picks turn out after you pick them up.

Sounds sweet. I was thinking about rebuilding some team. It's really fun watching Johnny Superbman on YouTube (he's the 2BC channel) do his GM mode for Calgary. I tend to actually play games in my GM mode though. You guys have some good stuff going there. Sucks Laughton didn't amount to much though, and Couturier and Schenn seem a little low. Probably needed more top line minutes to develop them correctly in the game to maximize their potential.

Not that Flyers fans didn't already know that after the Flyers eliminated the Penguins in six games in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals last season and Claude Giroux eliminated Evgeni Malkin in the EA Sports NHL 13 Cover Vote, but there's still signs.

This picture is from a Greensburg, Pennsylvania Best Buy right outside of Pittsburgh, tweeted in from@BrianFNMcDonald:

http://fnseanc.typep...f38ed970b-320wi

Notice the face of Sidney Crosby on Claude Giroux and the poorly cut out Pens logo covering the Flyers logo. It would of made more sense to have Malkin instead because Crosby wasn't in the Cover Vote.

Follow @FNSeanC and @FlyersNation on Twitter for the latest on the Philadelphia Flyers and like Philadelphia Flyers Nation on Facebook.

Woah I've been to that exact Best Buy. It was back when I had a hockey tournament up there about 5 or 6 years ago. I played Guitar Hero for the first time in there. Lol. Glad to see the Pens' fans are still upset but I'm sure the same would happen in Philly if a Penguin was on the cover.

Lol yeah those are def some Clarke type deals. I've been playing be a GM and Grossmann went down with an acl sprain, out for weeks so i picked up Spacek as a favor cheap sub. I was wondering if anyone else here got the game also bc of the new interconnected gm league

I'd love to try out GM Connected but I don't have a definite Xbox Live source in my dorm right now (I need to buy a router so I don't have to use my ethernet cable that I plug into my laptop), but I'm not sure it's a great idea since I need to focus on my grades as well. Haha. If this was high school it'd be a different story, but I slacked last year so I can't do too much online. Yet...

This might be my NHL season too, considering the lockout.

Just wondering if anyone has picked up the new game yet. I've been playing it a good deal the last couple of days after a really busy week. Anyways, I'm playing in Be a Pro right now I just noticed two transactions that the Flyers pulled off (I'm playing on the Spitfires as a created player), and they traded a 1st round pick to NYI for Nabokov and then traded Wellwood and Laughton to TB for St. Louis. I was unaware that Bob Clarke was back in office as GM.

Seriously though, imagine the explosion on this board if those trades happened in real life.

I think there will be a long lockout but not an entire season lost. I think there is just WAY too many differences in the revenue split to suit the owners. The owners and Bettman will state that the league revenue split will need to be more 50-50 like other major sports. The Players will counter (correctly) that hockey is unlike other major sports as there is not a major amount of TV revenue.

I think in order for their to be an agreement the players will have to agree to a more even split of revenue; possibly as much as 53-47 in their behalf. But I firmly support the players. I pay to see the players play not Ed Snider. I pay for the jersey with a players name and not the owners. The owners got almost everything they wanted the last lockout with a salary cap and revenue sharing. They cost fans a season. Now they need to bend a little in negotiations.

Personally if I were THE Hockey God for a Day I would do the following:

1) Fire Bettman

My first task would be to fire Gary Bettman. Yes he brought the winter classic and grown some revenue but losing ESPN, some questionable expansion choices (granted owner assisted), three work stoppages, and rule changes far outweigh any good he has done.

I would appoint a Commissioner who has a hockey background and someone both the players and owners would respect. Having a hockey guy as commissioner would hopefully help to expedite some of these labor issues.

My choice would be someone like Wayne Gretzky who not only would have both the players and owners respect but the sports world. Gretzky is recognized world wide and would add some instant credibility to the league and increase it's exposure.

My second choice would be Ken Dryden who not only is a legendary ex-player but someone with a law degree and has a sharp business acumen.

2) Contraction - there are some teams that will never be hockey markets and to continue to throw league money at these teams is wasting revenue. Phoenix is a prime example of the league throwing millions of dollars to keep the team afloat. The Players Union would likely fight this as there would be less jobs. Teams that I would consider would be Phoenix, One of the Florida Teams, possibly Nashville or Columbus.

3) Salary Cap - I would implement a revised salary cap that would allow the teams that generate more revenue to have more cap space. For example, I hate the revenue sharing and think it not fair to big market teams like the Flyers, Rangers, Leafs, Wings to have to support teams like Phoenix, Tampa, etc. To give those teams a slight advantage I would allow those teams to exceed the salary cap by the weighted revenue they generate.

4) Rule Changes

There are two major areas that I would address with rule changes and they are as follows:

a. Goalie Equipment - I would immediately reduce the size of goalie equipment so that the goalies are not looking like the Michelin Man. Look at photos or video of Dryden, Bernie, even Marty when he started his career and the difference is highly evident. Yes players are bigger nowadays but Boom Boom Geffrion and Al Iafrate still shot pucks the same 100 mph that Chara does,

b. NO Instigator - The league has become less physical to me and players are taking more liberties then ever. I think that is due in large part to a commissioner like Bettman who never played the game and never understood the importance and role of fighting in the game. I am not expecting a return to the 70's or even the 80's but a return of players being able to police themselves and to hold others accountable.

I know I am dreaming and some if not all of my suggestions are probably going to be a point of disagreement with other posters. Just the thought of having another hockey stoppage gets me disgusted and fed up.

I'm going to have to stop you after your first point. The ONLY person that should replace Gary Bettman as the NHL's all-powerful commissioner is Jon Sim.

Why am I not surprised Pauli can't spell anybody's name? It's not like they get shown on TV or the Internet all the time. Courtier....really?

@PHI Flyers10

Yeah I was happier when it was Weber to Philly for upcoming picks. Don't really wanna see the youngsters getting shipped out.

Though GMs have reputations to uphold, I was under the impression that WE were the ones trying to win the Cup for ourselves, not give up valuable assets because we feel bad for making a huge signing for our team.

Oh good god... I guess I forgot the "e"... Call the spelling police on me! But, if Holmren could trade ClarkEEEEE, he probably would....

I really don't want to lose Voracek AND Read. Both are so young and had extremely promising years last season. On top of losing Jagr and JvR (have to imagine he puts up 20+ in a healthy season on this team), that would be a lot of offense gone, even though Doan would be added. I just feel that we would be getting rather thin up front, though that always seems to be our concern. Adding Weber would be amazing but we'll have nobody to really play on the wing with skill.

Who is Bobby Clark?

Man I hope not. That would be very very bad. Like time to consider Nash bad.

As much as I'd dislike that, scoring isn't what the Penguins need. If we can still run up the score on them then it isn't concerning. Now if they were to also add Suter...

Parise, Suter, Nash to the Miami Heat (e5)

Lots of talk that Parise has reached a verbal agreement with the Penguins.

Really? Sorry never have and will facebook...just my choice...but that is really sad. Well he'll get a chance to let in 4 goals again like his last performance verse Buffalo....way to go homer...was hoping it was going to be Mason.So much for that....

Sadly, yes. Whenever the Flyers would post something that had to do with goaltending or a goal against, a decent group of fans flocked to post about bringing back Leighton and how good he was until the injury. It's like they forgot how horrible he was against a team with a good offense in those Blackhawks. He looked borderline great at points in the season and playoffs but was disgustingly bad in the Finals. Not who I want in net.

But he and Coburn could bond by building nests with their hawk beaks!

There is no way in hell I trade Schenn or Couturier. I think Nash is one of the top 20 players in the league but Schenn and Couturier have the potential to both be top 20/30 players at some point. Not that they both will but if that was just their rookie season last year, no way I would trade them. I also don't like Nash's cap hit on our team. I'd much rather take that hit for a big time defenseman, if not this year, then next.

This might be a disaster for us. If Bryz plays like **** then the fans are gonna be calling for Leighton because of what he did during our SCF run. You'd be surprised how many people on Facebook still love Leighton. Ugh...

Apparently Ryan would like to be traded to the Flyers.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20120622/SPORTS04/120622008/Ryan-hopes-traded-Flyers?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Flyers